Description

Germany Petrochemicals Q2 2018 Description

In line with the overall industrial sector, Germany's petrochemicals industry has demonstrated resilience, driven by robust privateconsumption trends. This bodes particularly well for some domestic petrochemicals-consuming sectors such as construction andautomotive manufacturing. However, over the medium term we expect growth to slow due to the growth of US petrochemicalscapacity, while the domestic market will be affected by demographic change with an ageing and shrinking population that will limitconsumption growth in end markets. There are also risks emanating from domestic policy uncertainty, stalled Brexit talks, a Chinesehard landing and the unpredictability of the Donald Trump administration in the US, all of which will impact on trade and regulation.